Irata – Vultures Review

Irata is a band that I had not heard of before, but seeing as they are from the town next to me, I figured it’d be pretty cool to check out their music, and I can say that it was a pretty good idea!

Their new EP is called, ‘Vultures’, and it was released on November 1st. It was produced by Phillip Cope of Kylesa, and this band has a sound that is quite close to the awesome sound of Kylesa, but how awesome?….let’s get to it!

The EP starts with “Keeper’s Maker,” and it starts with a nice, fuzzy groove intro and goes into a nice rest of the song, that shows the strengths of the band, rocking out. The song is short and straightforward, but it does do what it’s supposed to, let you rock and then leave before you get bored with it. A nice introduction to the band.

Old Smoker starts slow, but steady. It has a certain groove to it, a groove that I do dig though. It soon gets to the sound that you will find familiar on this records, distortion and yelling, and I LIKE IT! One thing I really like in this song is the clapping that is in the background, it adds something extra to the song that I really like and feel, along with the bassline, help make this song really different on the album. The ending is also a cool prelude for what is to come, just straight rock.

I have to say that one of my favorite tracks on this EP was the one song that I could find on youtube for this review, ‘Deluge’. I really like this song, because it starts out just a blazin’ trail, and then goes right into a nice guitar solo. I like that for a good part of this song you get a nice slow change of pace when the band suddenly starts a slower, but ultimately headbangable, section of music. But when you think it’s about to end, it comes back and the song finally finishes up with a solo.

Keeper’s Maker starts with a nice, fuzzy groove intro and goes into a nice rest of the song, which shows the strengths of the band, rocking out. The song is short and straightforward, but it does do what it’s supposed to, let you rock and then leave before you get bored with it.

I must say that the intro to ‘Miser’ caught me by surprise at first, it’s slow, bass led, and show that the band aren’t some hard rock, psychedelic band, they can do other things as well. That slow, quietness doesn’t stay around, mind you. They stay the pace but then add their typical flavor to what they were playing before, with distortion and yelling galore. The section in the chorus is awesome; it has a riff reminiscent of one of my favorite musical genres, doom metal. Just a really good, heavy riff, to keep you going through the chorus, before it slows down like the beginning again. If any of you readers are like me, you’ll just randomly be singing, “I WONT BE TRAMPLED ON,” at random times during the day.

The final track of this EP is “Serpents.” I think that is a perfect song to choose as the closing track. It gives a great promise for whatever they have up next. It’s nothing too complicated, this song is a great rocker. I like it quite a bit, I think that the end of the song is just awesome with the loud screams to cap off the song and the EP overall.

The 411: I think that this is a well produced and performed piece of music. I dig what the band is doing and feel like if they gave a bit more on this EP, I'd give it a higher score. I also wouldn't mind them delving into those doomy riffs and psychedelic breaks more often, because it makes for an intriguing listen. But overall, this album is pretty good, I dig it!